An Imaginative Experience

Aug 2, 2025 3:18 AM

Author:Mary Wesley

A train screeches to a halt in the middle of the English countryside and, observed by her fascinated fellow travellers, a woman climbs down and rushes to the aid of a sheep, stranded on its back and unable to rise. Sylvester Weekes watches with interest and noticing, as she turns, that her face is full of tragedy, the woman's lonely image lodges in his mind. But he is not the only one to speculate over her actions - Maurice Benson, former private detective turned full-time birdwatcher, is convinced that the mysterious woman must be tracked down, in whatever way possible.

This is a story rich in character and wit, and powerfully moving in its exploration of the heart's pain and deliverance. It is a tale of loss, of release, of an acceptance of the cruelties of fate and of the imaginative experience of love.

Reviews

Even more irrepressible than usual

—— Independent on Sunday

She is a story-teller who knows her craft

—— Spectator

Crammed with the little intimacies that make Wesley's novels so appealing

—— Sunday Times

It is Wesley's great strength that she makes us interested in every single person she creates

—— Maeve Binchy , Mail on Sunday

I have read Maupin's first two books three times already and shall probably read them again before too long. I love them for very much the same qualities that make me love the novels of Dickens

—— Christopher Isherwood

[Maupin] is the perfect chronicler of the moral, political, sexual and social fluxes of the world as we have lived and known them... Not only is all human life here but a hell of a lot besides that you'd never imagine

—— City Limits

Maupin's work is like a drug: it's easy, it's fun and it leaves you greedy for more...superb

—— The Australian

Fab and funny ... Anyone with a sister will be nodding their head the whole way through

—— Closer

Anna Maxted tells a tale of sibling rivalry with wit and emotion

—— InStyle

Warm, poignant and very funny

—— Marian Keyes

Hugely funny. Maxted writes beautifully

—— Daily Express

This modern day mythical fantasy is Anne Rice on an epic scale, a hugely imagined world. A chiller thriller from cold of Russia, this one's been selling like hot cakes around the world

—— Sunday Sport

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